My car

have owned the powershift 240bhp 2L ecoboost for a few weeks now, having bought it from evanshalshaw blackpool Ford. this is panther black titanium x sport with powershift auto and it was £31k new, paid just £17.5k with 9800 miles on the clock. tremendous. the spec and gadgets are superb and the powrshift is sublime. I owned a 233bhp 330D before which was awesome but this smax shifts just as superbly. MPG is just 25 (vs 37 on the beemer) but with 3 kids under 5, i needed a car that didn't drive like a bus, but that took 3 kids in the second row with the car seats. this car does it all. looks awesome, drives awesome but just hurts the fuel pocket a little bit.well worth it though.dealer was excellent too by the way. got ford direct extra 2 yr warranty and roadside assistance.

2.0 TDCi 140 Zetec 5dr

Darren Kelly
,
Cheshire
.
Date:
19/09/2011

Overall verdict

5
out of 5 stars

What's it like to drive

5
out of 5 stars

Running costs

4
out of 5 stars

Quality, practicality and equipment

4
out of 5 stars

Average MPG

45

My car

I've owned this car for about 10 months having tried hard to resist going to an MPV. But we recently had a 3rd child so the posh estates where just too compromised on space. I got an amazing deal on 10 plate model (pre-face lift) 2.0 tdci zetec. I have done about 20,000 miles in it so far and its one of the best cars i have ever owned. Reliability has been 100%. It drives like no other MPV out there. Ford seem to have the advantage other every other manufacturer when it comes to handling and performance for most of their models and the S-Max is no exception. A full service was £180!!! i'm used to nearly paying twice that at BMW (320d estate), VW (passat estate) and Audi (A4 estate). In terms of space - nothing beats this car. It can easily fit 7 people in - all the rivals like 5008's, Picasso's and Scenics etc are not as big in the 3rd row, there all based on smaller platforms than the S-MAX's and it really does show in terms of cabin space. I am getting about 45 mpg average out of this car - and it doesn't burn huge oil like the VAG cars i've owned. I would throughly recommend this car to anyone who wants the performance of car but needs the space of an MPV. A few owners have complained about Ford dealers and reliability - i can't praise the car or the dealers highly enough. Small critiscims are that the levels of equipment are stingy and the plastics are a bit low rent. The seats are very hard. If i replace the car it will be for another S-MAX, just a higher specifcation!!!

2.0 TDCi 140 Titanium 5dr

Simon Davids
,
Flintshire
.
Date:
13/05/2011

Overall verdict

1
out of 5 stars

What's it like to drive

1
out of 5 stars

Running costs

1
out of 5 stars

Quality, practicality and equipment

4
out of 5 stars

Average MPG

38

My car

Bought new July 2010. When delivered door panels did not line up, vibration from front which got worse over time and is still not fixed. Steering is jittery and vague, handling is not like a car despite what the media says, it is awful. The engine is underpowered, struggles with even a moderate load. Fuel economy 42ish on long motorway run, 38 overall. Inside the space is fantastic, as is the level of equipment, driving position very good, although seats uncomfortable for long journeys. Auto lights and wipers are a nightmare, sunlight and shadows set them off, but it takes a lot of rain to make them work. DAB radio loses signal too often, FM radio has very poor reception. Tyre wear slightly higher than usual and replacement tyre is around £180. No spare tyre only powder. DVD system very good but the unit is mounted under front passenger seat & makes changing discs difficult. I have found Ford dealers to be disingenuous or incompetent. Will replace this car with VW as soon as I can afford to do so, and steer clear of Ford. And to the Peugeot 5008 reviewer who said Buy British, Buy an SMAX...it's built in Genk, Belgium.

1.8 TDCi Zetec 5dr

Alf Clif
,
.
Date:
07/05/2011

Overall verdict

1
out of 5 stars

What's it like to drive

4
out of 5 stars

Running costs

3
out of 5 stars

Quality, practicality and equipment

2
out of 5 stars

Average MPG

45

My car

Our relationship with our S-Max was a love/hate relationship which has resulted in our seperation (we sold it). The car was suprisingly fun and rather sporty to drive (for an MPV) as we expected it to handle like a brick. It was well kitted out and was extremeley spacious which was the main attraction. Our family holidays with the five of us were easy as the boot is huge and the second row of seats is really spacious.
The main problem we had was it just wouldn't start consistently. It suffered from what appears to be a common S-Max fault of an 'unknown battery drain.' We had replacement batteries, alternators to no avail and when this made no difference we were then faced with an absolutley shocking poor performance from our local Ford garage and the Ford Technical (read Ford Incompetent) Dept. We had weeks of time wasted to and fro'ing from garages and repetitive phone calls and Ford never managed to fix the fault.
Other probelms we had included the door window disappearing into the door and not coming out, broken air conditioning system and also bits falling of the CD/audio system.
In summary, a huge sporty MPV, it's just a shame it didn't start and the build quality was abysmal.